HTTYD: Hailstorm
by PurifierofChaos131000
Summary: Berk; Twelve days north of Hopeless... okay we've heard this before. But have you heard about Hagallheim, Hamish Bjornson and the events that transpired there? No? Well, then its time to learn the story of the Hailstorm.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1: A Story That You Probably Haven't Heard Before_

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" _This is Berk… It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death-"_ _ **"What are you doing?"**_ _"I'm telling people the story of how a boy trained a dragon and ended a war."_ _ **"Why, everyone knows it?"**_ _"It's a tradition, it's very important."_ _ **"Wasn't one of the morals in the story that just because something is tradition doesn't make it necessarily right?"**_ _"Okay fair point. But now what am I supposed to tell them?"_ _ **"You could tell them OUR story, they haven't heard that one before."**_ _"I don't know, it isn't exactly as believable as the other one. Don't give me the baby dragon eyes routine, it's not going to work. Don't-don't-augh! Okay you win, I'll tell them our story, just please get off me you're crushing my ribs. Thank you. So, it looks like I'm going to be telling you a different story instead. Now, there are some similarities to the story I was going to tell you, but rest assured, this story is different. Now then, let's start over please…._

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 _This is_ _ **NOT**_ _Berk, this is the island of Hagallheim, which means 'Hail House'_ **{1}** _. And no, it isn't actually all that cold, in fact compared to some other locations in the Archipelago, this place is pretty warm. The island is three-fourths forest, a large mountain on the western side of the island a beautiful beach on the southern side with a village filled with stubborn-as-yaks Vikings. Why did the original settlers on the island name the island something that means 'Hail House', you may ask?_

 _I can't tell you now, you'll find out soon._

 _You see the village, MY village, is a fairly populated one so we need a constant supply of food. Our main source of income was the fish we brought in from the surrounding sea and the wild game from the forest. Considering the island is mostly forest, there's a lot of food to go around. Or, you know, at least there would be if it wasn't for the pests."_

On a farm placed on a small hill just outside the village of Hagallheim, a heard of yaks were peacefully grazing. All of a sudden, a pair of claws flew by and picked one of them off, the one nearby just looking shocked. The shock quickly wore off and it returned to grazing. _"Yup, just like that Berk place, the pests that Hagallheim deal with are…"_ Hearing the ruckus and commotion outside his house, a young lad about the age of fourteen opened his front door, and saw something about to shoot fire at him and he quickly closed the door back up, the flames hitting that instead. "Dragons."

Dragons attacked all around the village, people fighting to protect their home. Swords and axes clashed against the teeth of dragons and flames and rained from the sky. The boy had light caramel hair that parted to his right, with bright blue eyes that resembled pools of water. He wore a long sleeve storm blue tunic with a silver wolf fur vest and matching boots. On his right cheek was a scar that ran from his lips to his lower jaw. _"That would be Hamish Bjornson, A.K.A yours truly. In case you didn't figure it out, I'm the 'Hiccup' in our story."_ Hamish ran through the village, dodging multiple blasts from dragons. When he reached the village square, he almost ran right into the path of a dragon and he would have been toast if wasn't for the large hand that grabbed him before he got himself killed.

"Hamish, what are you doing, you shouldn't be out here! Get to the smithy where you belong!" With a hard push in the direction of the smithy, Hamish was sent off allowing the person to get back to his duties. _"At six foot ten with the presence that can strike fear in any dragon's heart, it's the one and only Chief Magnus the Strong."_ Chief Magnus wore a short sleeve black tunic that was so massive it almost reached the ground, a brown bear fur cloak draped over his shoulders. A top his head was helmet with ram horns and over his wrists were braces covered in dragon scales. His hair and beard were a sandy color which highlighted his pale green eyes.

" _They say as a baby he could pick up a whole dragon and throw it so hard that the only thing not broken would be the attitude."_ Seeing a dragon flying off with a yak, Magnus quickly the first thing he saw, an apple cart, and threw it right at the beast, causing it to come crashing down. _"What, I said this story wouldn't be as believable. Oh, and for the record, despite him being the 'Stoick' equivalent, he is not my father. And just case you don't believe that, listen to this."_ "Magnus have you seen Hamish," asked a female warrior. Compared to other warriors, she was pretty slim. Her hair was the same color as Hamish's, her bangs styled into two shoulder length braids, one on each side. Her face was similar to Hamish's as well, the only difference being her eyes, they were a bright emerald green.

"I just saved him from being burned by a dragon. You really need to keep that boy of yours under control Brenna." _"See, what I tell you."_ "What have we got so far?" "About three dozen dragons are attacking, five men injured and a quarter dozen yaks have been taken." A nearby catapult tower exploded, Brenna using her shield as cover. Magnus however, wasn't afraid of fire and he simply brushed a flame off his shoulder. "Are there any signs of the Hail Devil?" "As far as we can tell it might not even be in this raid." "Good." _"Yeah, that part about a 'Hail Devil' is important. Take note of it."_

After running through the village, narrowing avoiding death, Hamish eventually reached the Smithy, and immediately got scolded. "What took you so long, I've been waiting for almost ten minutes!" _"That 'lovely voice' belongs_ _to Garrison the Crafty, village blacksmith and resident mood killer."_ Garrison was six-five, a couple inches shorter than most adult Vikings but that was due to a slouch. He lost his right hand in an incident that was never really clear, the story differed depending on who told it, and he replaced it with a prosthetic hand that had a clip on the wrist, allowing him to hold things. For attire, he head a mustard yellow tunic with beige pants. His dull gray eyes complemented his graying black hair. Personality wise, he was friendly fellow, if not a rough around the edges type of friend.

"Sorry Garrison, I was-" "I don't want to hear it. Start sharpening some weapons boy or I'll toss you into the boar pit outside Calum the Crazy's house!" Not wanting to end up in that boar pit again, don't ask it was a traumatic experience, Hamish took the nearest axe and started to sharpen it against a moving stone. _"You may be asking yourself why I'm working in a blacksmith's forge with an old guy with an attitude. Well I have a bit of a reputation for trying to 'establish' myself as a potential dragon slayer during these raids, so sometimes there is some damage in the village that was not caused by the raiding dragons. Add to that my scrawny, non-Viking look, the chief just snapped one day and assigned me as Garrison's assistant and apprentice. It's only temporary though, in can quit as soon as I, in Chief Magnus' words 'Stopped being such a nuisance and start acting like the Viking you claim you are.' He may be wise when it comes to things like leading a village and solving fights, but emotional wise he has the intelligence of a loaf of bread. But what he said doesn't really bother me as much as it did when he first said it, because soon I'll prove that I am a Viking."_

"Restock ammunition for the catapults, we begin a counter attack on my signal," Magnus said to one of the warriors beside him, carrying a goat on his shoulders. Protecting lives, people and livestock was priority number one during raids so sometimes people had to carry livestock to safety. Magnus and the other warriors ran through the field of battle, a dragon shooting at one of the houses, setting it on fire. "Fire!" "Quick get moving, we can't led it spread further than it already has," said a voice that passed by the window near Hamish, running towards the burning house. _"Oh yeah, it's time to introduce the rest of the cast."_ A group of teenagers about Hamish's age set up a station filled with buckets of water and began working to put the fire out.

First was a heavy set boy with a yellow leather tunic and dark green pants. On his head was a helmet that had miniature dragon wings instead of horns and he also had charcoal black boats with white fur around the ankle. His eyes were brown just like his hair. _"That's Johann Blankstone, nice guy. Not really a whole lot of personality, he basically just does what he's told to do and he's happy."_ Johann threw his bucket at the front door of the burning house, the water dousing the flames but not really reaching anything else. "Johann, I think if you aimed a little to the left you could extinguish a good portion of the flames." "Alright, on it Leif."

From the station with the water buckets, another boy was giving orders and refiling buckets. He was pretty small, attributed to him being a year younger than the rest of them. His blonde hair was short, and it was spiked like a dragon's tail. His icy blue eyes scanned the battlefield, looking for possible ways to end the flames. A red piece of fabric was wrapped around his right elbow, which stood out from his white short sleeved tunic and dark gray pants. On his left shoulder was a shoulder guard that looked like a dragon's head when viewed from the top. _"Leif Tyrnsan, youngest in the age group, very smart…"_ Johann followed Leif's suggestion and aimed to the left of the door, and just as he said a large amount of the flames went out. "Leif it worked!" "Of course it worked, I came up with it." _And unfortunately he knows it."_

On the other side of the house, two more teens were struggling… to pull a bucket out of the other's hand. The first was a somewhat muscular lad with green eyes and red hair. He wore a purple tunic with open-stitching that was tucked into light gray trousers and a pale yellow leather vest over it. On his arms were gray fur bracers with matching boots. His helmet was similar to the Chief's, except the ram horns were painted red to look like dragon's blood. _"Sven Erikson, selfish, arrogant and egotistical in every sense of the word."_ "That's my bucket, it has my name and everything on it. I get it, you want something that was signed by the great Sven Erikson, but I need it to work. Afterwards you can have it until I take it back later.

"No way, I head this first. You know the rules, 'Finders keepers, losers don't get anything," said the other boy. His long hair was blonde and dyed green at the ends, and his eyes were a mesh up of blue and green. A light yellow tunic that extended past his hip, black short fur vest, green pants and red boots were his clothes. He also had a long blue arm clothe that wrapped around his left elbow and stopped at his wrist and a dragon tooth pendant that rested on his chest. _"Aric Askrson_ **{2}** _, little crazy, little unintelligent, all around odd ball. He was dropped on his head one to many times as a baby."_ "Would you two stop and get back to work," Leif shouted. "MIND YOUR OWN BUISNESS," the two shouted back. "Aria, could you please get Sven and your brother to stop fighting, remember what happened last time that happened."

The last on the fire brigade, and only girl member, quickly threw her bucket of water at another flaming building before walking towards the struggling twosome. Blonde hair wrapped in a braid that laid against her back, forest green eyes that looked more like a cursed forest than a happy forest. Her blood red shirt was sleeveless with black cloth braces around her arms and a chain belt. Her leggings were black and paired with dark blue furry boots. _"Aria Askrson, Aric's twin sister and the serious one of the two. She really only hangs out with the others because of work on the fire brigade. She treats life as one big competition and never settles for anything other than first place."_ Aria ripped the bucket out of Sven and her brother's hands and smacked both of them with it. "Now get back to work!" "YES MA"AM!"

" _Yeah you get it, Leif and Johann are Fishlegs, Sven is Snotlout, Aric and Aria are the twins while Aria has Astrid's attitude. They don't hang out with me because, hello I'm the 'Hiccup' here." Oh, and for the record, Aria does not have the love interest roll here, that belongs to this last one."_ While Garrison wasn't looking, Hamish peeked out the Smithy window and into the healer's hut next door. And there she was, helping treat the injured warriors who were brought in. _"Allie Ingres, granddaughter of Freya, the village elder."_ Her eyes were pink, something that was rare by normal standards, long black with a purplish tint hair that extends to her lower back, secured with a dragon wing shaped barrette. She had on a cream colored leather vest and a long sapphire blue dress with gray leggings underneath. Wrapped around her waist was a torn silver scarf that belonged to her father and a topaz pendant around her neck that was her mother's. _"Both her parents passed away in a dragon raid when she was young, and after that she swore against fighting and decided to follow in her grandmother's footsteps and become a healer."_

"Alright, Gunnar you can go now," she said, her voice as soft and sweet as a bird song. "Thanks Allie." She looked out her window, and gave Hamish a smile and wave. It was only until after he realized he was staring and she saw him that Hamish turned into a nervous wreck. He was going to wave back, but Garrison had caught him slacking off. He picked Hamish up and moved away from the window, much to the boy's embarrassment. "Come on, I was doing well there." "Trust me, I was saving you from yourself." "Well could you at least let me go out there and let me kill a dragon?" Garrison rolled his eyes, knowing where this was going. "Please, just one minute, I can prove the chief that I can be the Viking I claim I am. I may even get Allie to go out with me!" "You aren't able to shoot a crossbow, you can't throw a spear. You can't even throw a bolas probably," Garrison listed, grabbing the weapons he listen. To his surprise, a passing buy villager grabbed the bolas out of his hand and threw it at a dragon overhead, ensnaring the winged creature instantly.

"Okay, that was true. But I've been practicing watch," Hamish said as he bragged a bolas and aimed it out the window at a dragon, but at the last second someone walked in front of the bolas and he was caught in it instead. "Sorry Gunnar. Well that didn't count, Gunnar walked in the way and-" "Hamish, this is why Magnus put you here in the first place. If you ever want to start killing dragons, you need to stop all the talking and stop being a little less you." "'A little less me'," Hamish repeated. "Okay a lot less you. Basically your name is the only thing that says. And even than it might have to be changed." Hamish was offended by his mentor's advice and proceeded to give a lame comeback. "Well, you have to start being less grumpy and start being more chummy." The old blacksmith face didn't even change. "Yeah I know that was bad." "You've admitted you made a mistake, that's a start. Sword. Sharpen. Now," he said as he placed a large sword in the boy's hands and he started to sharpen it.

" _Soon, real soon I'll kill a dragon. How could I not, it's in my blood. Oh, that reminds me you haven't met the dragons yet. This batch is not as well-known as other species, but lucky for us at Hagallheim, we get to deal with them. Yeah us."_ Over by a storage house filled with sheep, a group of dragons with long, slender necks and jagged-edged wings were picking up the livestock. _"Windstrikers, they give the term 'dragon-breath' a whole new meaning."_ A few feet below them, a group dragons that looked like elongated Gronckles with snowy mountains on their backs were grabbing drying fish in their mouths. _"Groncicles, think Gronckle but with ice instead of lava."_ Someone tried to rush at the Groncicles, only for an earthworm like dragon to burst out of the ground and catch his axe in its teeth. _"Sweet Death. The 'Sweet' part comes from the smell it uses to lure in its next victim, not because it's pretty to look at."_ Over by another place used to hide livestock, a dragon with an axe-like snout, six legs and a spiked tail was cutting through the walls. _"Hackatoo, don't let the ridiculous name fool you, those things can cut through wood like a hot knife through butter."_ More dragons began to take the livestock from the hiding spot, taking off with the animals in their claws.

"They found the animals!" "Don't let them get away," Magnus instructed. The men obeyed and fired towards the dragons that were flying with animals in their grasps. Some fell to the ground, dropping the livestock, only for small, fish like dragons with tentacle like strings under their chins to grab them and dive into the sea. _"Sliquifiers, small but the fastest swimmers you'd ever see."_ Magnus looked around for any nearby dragons, but his attention draw to a fire ball that hit the catapult tower he was standing on. A dragon that resembled a Snafflefang in terms of build, except with a fan like tail, spikes on its back and multiple horns started to circle the tower. _"The Moldruffle, like Monstrous Nightmares they like setting themselves on fire, except,"_ The dragon stopped in front of Magnus, and flapped its wings towards the flames, whipping them up into a frenzy, _"They prefer to boost the flames first."_ "I'll take care of this," Magnus said as he grabbed his trust mace. The Moldruffle started to snap at him, only to get a whack in the face.

Suddenly, a loud wolf-like howl bellowed through the sky, the Moldruffle retreating from his battle with the chief. _"And that would the Hail Devil, the icy beast that brings the fury of a winter storm to the island and the reason we call it 'Hail House', the…"_ "WOOLLY HOWL!" "Get down," shouted the Hagallheim Vikings as a white blast hit the tower, exploding in a burst of ice and snow. "JUMP," Magnus shouted as the tower started to collapse. _"The Woolly Howl. I know, not the most threatening name in the world, why do you think we stick with 'Hail Devil.' This beast never leaves the sky, it doesn't go after food, and in terms of accuracy-"_ Another blast hit the catapult tower, completely destroying it. _"It always hits the mark."_

From the inside of the Smithy, Hamish watched the whole thing, the icy powers of the Woolly Howl were something most feared, but not him. _"I'll give you three guesses as to which dragon I'm going after and the first two don't count."_ "They need some assistance out there Hamish," Garrison said as he grabbed an axe," "You stay here and man the fort. Basically, don't leave that spot, unless someone asks you to sharpen a weapon, or they need a new one, on second thought, don't leave the building," Garrison said as he joined the battle, axe held high screaming a mighty battle cry.

Hamish was told to stay put. No points as to guessing what he does instead. He grabbed a pair of bolas and ran straight out of the Smithy, ignoring the numerous pleas of the people who needed their weapons fixed.

Over by a group of Windstrikers that had surrounded a bunch of goats, Magnus threw a large net over them, and some villagers went at the beasts. One of them attempted to break free by burning through the net by shooting a blast of super-heated air boosted by its fire, but it was stopped by Magnus clamping its mouth shut. "Careful, the beast still has some fire in it," Magnus warned as the dragon tried to throw him off.

On the other side of the village, Hamish positioned himself next to a stationary crossbow that he had placed there after the last raid. Miraculously, the crossbow had remained intact. He had modified it so that instead of arrows, it would throw a bolas. Despite having worked on his throwing skills, he could throw it hard enough that it would go more than a few feet in the air. Placing the bolas inside, he looked out in the night sky, searching for the Woolly Howl. "Come on, I need something to shoot at," he whispered to himself. For about a second, he thought he heard a low, wolf like growl. He looked over a bit, and realized that another catapult tower was close by. The howling noise grew louder, and Hamish knew this was when he had to take his shot. The tower exploded in a flurry of snow, and Hamish shot the bolas, the force knocking him back. As he got back up, a painful howl filled the air.

He had hit the Woolly Howl. Looking away from the tower, towards the start of the sunrise, he saw a large shape fall towards the base of the mountain. Hamish Bjornson, the village runt, had down the Woolly Howl.

"Yes, I did it," Hamish screamed happily. "I hit the 'Hail Devil,' who else saw that!?" "Hamish," screamed a young voice. He turned around, and saw the chief's six year old son, Magnus the second, running towards him. "Magnus did you see that? I hit the," Hamish started before a large fire ball flew by, barely missing him. "HELP!" He looked behind Magnus and saw that a Moldruffle, wings and tail covered in flames running behind the little boy. As quickly as he could, Hamish ran towards Magnus and picked him up with the Moldruffle close behind, snapping its jaws whenever it got closer to them.

Soon Hamish hid behind one of the torches used to illuminate the village during the raids, which was good for him because the Moldruffle fired at them right before he managed to get behind the torch. Magnus started to cry, worried for what was going to happen. "Hey it's okay. Everything's going to be alright," Hamish tried to comfort the younger boy. Unbeknownst to either of them, the Moldruffle was had found them, and they only realized this when the dragon took a deep breathe, preparing to shoot fire at them. Hamish brought Magnus in close, bracing himself for a fiery death…

But it never came. Before the dragon could shoot, Chief Magnus punched the Moldruffle, disorienting it and firing at Gunnar who was lucky enough he had his shield with him. Chief Magnus stared at the dragon with a hatred equal to a thousand burning suns. The Moldruffle attempted to fire at him, but only a small spark came out. "Looks like you're all out," Magnus said right before giving the dragon a right hook to the face. The dragon flew off, and the chief turned around… to see the torch collapse, Hamish looking at him awkwardly while Magnus Jr. cradled in the boys arms. As for the rest of the torch, long story short the Windstrikers that were captured in a net escaped with a small group of yaks, and the villagers had to do some repairing to the docks.

As the dragons flew away with a large amount of the villages livestock, all eyes turned toward Hamish. They were all staring at him with furious glares, especially Chief Magnus. His mother ran through the crowd and wrapped her arms around him, asking if he and Magnus Jr. were okay. "We're fine mom. Nothing's broken and we're still alive," Hamish joked. "Is that really what you have to say," Chief Magnus shouted. "Are you trying to get you and your half-brother killed." Hamish looked away from the chief, unsure what to say next.

" _To be fair, I said he wasn't my father. I never said anything about him being my step-father."_

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 **PurifierofChaos131000 here! And with a new story too, look at that.**

 **After starting to write up a bunch of stories, I finally settled on this one. I have a bunch more in the works but I'm doing this one for now. For those following my other story, Dragon Nation, I still have a lot of work to do on that, but for the time this one is what I'm focusing on.**

 **So, the idea behind this story actually came from a story called 'Dragons: Riders of Bliz!" by** **BEST OC Maker or Gigabyte.** **It was pretty short, in fact it was stopped because it had to be rewritten. However, it did get me thinking about what would happen if things in the first movie were different? Different dragons, different people, a different setting, etc. So my creative juices got flowing and low and behold an O/C version of How to Train Your Dragon.**

 **Just so we are clear, I did not copy "Riders of Bliz" I simply got the idea to do this story from that one. The only things that are in both this story and that one are that there is a Woolly Howl as a Toothless substitute (there aren't that many Strike Class dragons and I thought the Woolly Howl was the next best choice. Plus I wanted to give dragons that had only appeared in Rise of Berk and School of Dragons some love. The only exception is the Windstriker, which was one of the background dragons from the second film), the inclusion of the Moldruffle dragon, (again, not really many dragons to choose from that belong to the Stoker Class, I don't care what Rise of Berk says with the Moldruffle being Tracker Class, it showed up in School of Dragons first and I'm going with Stoker Class. I was going to use Hobblegrunts, but I thought that the dragon seemed more docile and the role was supposed to be the Monstrous Nightmare here), and that there are seven teens instead of six (that was simply because I wanted seven instead of six.) Oh, and if one of the O/Cs sounds a lot like an O/C from another story you've seen that is pure coincidence. I don't read a lot of stories with O/C characters so if one of them sounds familiar it was just a coincidence.**

 **As for the notes of this chapter,**

 **1} I actually had to look up the Old Norse, and Hagallheim does mean 'Hail House'.**

 **2} The last names of the other teens, I just thought them up and made them sound like they might be actually Viking names, except for the last name I used for the twin characters. 'Askr' is Old Norse for 'ash tree', and Aric is the equivalent to Eric. But other than that, I don't know the Old Norse language.**

 **So slightly off topic and** _ **very**_ **late, what did you guys think of the Race to the Edge episode released at the end of June. Personally I thought it was the weakest season. I'm not saying it was bad, it definitely had some high notes. I loved the new dragons we got, the finale was a great cliffhanger, Dagur's redemption arc had an interesting reveal, the subtle hints that the Dragon Hunters are connected to Drago, and I definitely have grown to despise Viggo, and I mean that in the best way he is a great villain, to name a few things. But at the same time there were low notes. There were parts that I wish were further explored in the season, such as the civilization under Dragon's Edge and the Dragon Fights, I wanted to see more of them, especially the Dragon Fights, I really thought that could have been a two-parter, Dagur's redemption could have been more than just two episodes, Grump's origin story is put in with no fanfare (but at the same time Gobber VS. Ryker, Gobber may have just became my favorite character in this franchise) and the episode 'A Grim Retreat', that was just my least favorite episode in the entire series. The only thing I liked about that episode was what was happening at Dragon's Edge with Gobber and Stoick trying to replace the Chicken, long story.**

 **Sorry it got a little long there. Basically the season felt weak because it didn't expand on interesting plot ideas and instead focused more on filler like episodes. It's a good thing that we have three more sets of episodes on the way because I don't think everything can be wrapped up in thirteen episodes. Let's hope that more of these ideas are expanded on in the future.**

 **Back on topic, updates of this story will be every Friday, starting next Friday. Schools starting up tomorrow and I have to finish some last minute preparations. See you guys soon.**

 **PurifierofChaos13100**

 **R &R**

 **Posted: September 7th, 2016  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**We return to the scene of the crime. There is no crime, we just have another chapter.**

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 _Chapter 2: The Part Were People Have a Change in Opinions_

All eyes were on Hamish, who nervously put Jr. into his mother's arms. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself," Chief Magnus demanded. "I hit the Woolly Howl," the boy said nervously. A collective groan came out from the chief and most of the rest of the village. "This again," Sven shouted out. "You say that every raid!" "I would like to point out that not only are the chances of sighting the dragon in question pretty slim to start with, but the percentage of people who have actually encountered the dragon and survived is a total zero," Leif said, much to Aric's confusion. "Nobody's has ever seen it and lived to tell the tale." "Oh, thanks."

"Well it's not like those times, I had a clear shot, you all were busy and didn't notice. It went down near the base of Thor's Peak. We can get a search party started up and-" "Enough," Magnus said, stopping Hamish from continuing. The lad braced himself, something like this happens every raid. "Can't you see that I have other problems to deal with than your disobedience? Winter is drawing closer every day, and the challenges of feeding a whole village is hard enough as it is with those dragons stealing every last bite of food!" "To be fair, dragons aren't the only ones hoarding food like wild boars," Hamish sarcastically said. One nearby villager actually looked at his stomach with a face that said, 'Am I really that big?'

"This is serious Hamish," Magnus shouted, threatening to boil over. "Why must we does this every time you disobey my orders?" "I can't help myself sir, the moment I see a dragon, I just go right for the kill...It's who I am." Magnus rubbed his forehead, tired of the boy's insolence. "Trust me Hamish, 'Dragon Slayer' is on the list of the few things you _aren't_."

As he saw his father reprimand his half-brother, Magnus Jr. whispered to his mother, "Mommy, I don't like when daddy gets like this." Brenna didn't like it either. The toughest part was that while Jr. could avoid the conflict between the two, she was caught right in the middle. Part of her wanted to do what any mother would and be angry that her child was endangering themselves, but at the same time she wanted to just yell at Magnus for humiliating her child in front of the entire village. Sometimes she wished that the raid eight years back hadn't happened, and that everything was the way it once was.

"Alright you two, I think we get the point," Brenna said, putting herself between the two. "Look, this was a tough raid, so Magnus, you go and fix the village, Hamish will go back to the house and both of you will think about what both of you have done." "What I've done," both Hamish and Magnus said. "Yes, both of you. Now, I need to take Jr. to the Healer's Hut in case he got hurt, so will you both just please go and do what you're supposed to be doing," Brenna said with an exasperated sigh. "Yes Mom/Brenna." "Garrison make sure he gets home," Magnus said, adding "I need to clean up the boy's mess," under his breath. The old blacksmith walked Hamish back to his home, a few derogatory comments from Sven and Aria thrown his way. "Great job that helped so much." "You need to get a hold of what's really going on and stop doing crazy things. "Yes, thank you for the comments and advice, I'll take note of them," Hamish replied to the comments, use too many similar ones he received in the past. Garrison gave Sven a good whack in the head for insulting his assistant. The other teens didn't make any comments, Johann because he didn't do things unless he was told, Aric because he was muttering something about yaks and wrestling. Leif didn't really take part in the taunting of his fellow tribesman because, he thought what was essentially destroying a person's confidence and spirit was counter-productive in a war.

"They never listen." "Yup, runs in the family. Whenever your father tried convincing people to stop killing dragons, they always just looked at him like he had too much ale." You see, Hamish's father and Brenna's first husband, Harold the 'Peace-Preacher' Bjornson, was, well a peace preacher. He believed that the villagers did not know as much about dragons as they thought they did, and instead of trying to kill them the moment you see one, they should try to find an alternate solution to peace instead of exterminating them. He wasn't popular in the village because of this, as you can guess. Every now and then, Hamish heard whispers from the villagers about how foolish his father was, spouting in their words 'Foolish ideas about a heretic's dream.' The fact that he was killed by the very same beasts he said they could reason with didn't help. Hamish was only six, almost seven when the raid that forever took his father away from his life, but it was forever engraved into his memory.

"Yeah, and when people do pay attention to me, it's this aggravated look, like someone swiped all the meat of their plate." "Yup, they gave your father the same thing. 'You mind barmaid, the pile of fish bones over there keep taking our dragons. Would you please throw him in the nearest pit to straighten him out?' That was some of the nicer things they said about him." "Thank you Garrison, for once again lifting the mood," Hamish said as he approached the front door of his house. "Look Hamish. All I'm saying is that people aren't going to forget the past so easily and that maybe you should get yourself together before you do something you might regret," Garrison said. Hamish didn't look at the old smith when he opened the door to go inside, he only whispered "I just don't want to end up like my dad," and he closed the door.

He walked inside, up to his room. He sat down in front of his desk and sorted through the various 'homework assignments' Garrison had given him over the years until he found it. The last picture he had of his father. He stared at it, looking at his father's face. Even now, he wished that his father was here, but there was a huge part of him that strived to be different. Hamish wanted to die a decorated warrior, hailed as a hero who defended the village from dragons and raiders, not the son of the guy who dreamed up peace with dragons.

And now was his chance. He had a Woolly Howl to find.

* * *

"Alright, that should do it," Allie said as she finished wrapping a bandage over Jr.'s arm. "Thank you Allie," a grateful Brenna said. "It was no big deal, it was just a small cut." "No big deal," said a loud and sassy voice that belonged to Allie's grandma Freya. Despite being the shortest adult in the village, at only four feet tall, she was known for having the volume of someone over twice her size. "Allie, if you hadn't patched up the kid's injury, who know how long until it got infected. Next thing you know we'd have to be cutting off that arm and replacing it with a pitchfork or something," the elderly woman said, startling Jr.

"Don't worry about it little guy, it wouldn't be that bad," said Garrison as he entered the Healer's Hut. "And as for a fake arm, take it from someone who's had one for decades, it's not as bad as it looks," the blacksmith reassured the young boy. "Yeah, but that's 'cause you lost half your sanity when you saw ol' Calum running through the village in only-" "Okay Freya, I think we get the point," Brenna interrupted, shuddering in disgust. "We don't need to relive that nightmare Grandma," Allie said as she left the room to put away the rest of the bandages.

"So, how'd it go with Hamish?" "The lad said something about not ending up like Harold, and that's pretty much the only thing I got out of him." Brenna sighed depressingly, wishing that the old days were back. Her family was never as privileged as some other villagers, and Harold's death was a blow to the whole family. If it wasn't for Magnus, whose family was longtime friends with hers, offering a marriage contract, who knows what she had to do in order to support Hamish and herself. Did she regret doing something to care for her son? No, but in hindsight there were a lot of problems that came after it. Her son and chief-now husband- couldn't agree on how to pull a cat out of a tree, and she always ended up in the middle of their little spats.

Then that ended up going to a whole new level whenever it came to dragon raids, tonight being a prominent example. On the one hand, Hamish did disobey Magnus' orders and almost get himself and Jr. killed. But at the same time Magnus did not have to humiliate Hamish in front of the whole village. It's just frustrates her, because she's stuck between the roles of mother and chief's wife. If she agrees with Magnus, then she hurts her own child, but if she didn't agree with him then who knows how harsh he might be the next time something like that happens. Sometimes she wished that things were the way the used to be, before Harold lost his life.

Not that she didn't like some aspects of her new life. She loved Jr. and would never do anything to hurt the child, and when Magnus wasn't in 'chief mode', he was a loving husband and father, to Jr. anyways. It was just that Hamish and Magnus did not mix.

Her thinking was interrupted by something hitting her foot. She winced in pain as Freya looked at her, holding the staff that the old woman hit her with. "You were thinking of the past weren't you?" "Well what was that for," Brenna asked, holding her foot. "That was for looking like someone just said you've got a week left to live," the old woman whispered, making sure that the child in the room couldn't hear what she was saying. "Look, I understand loss too. What happened with my son and his wife all those years ago still hurts. But they wouldn't want me to always be mourning them. If you want to remember Harold and honor him, then don't spend so much time wishing he was here, live your life in the present."

At that moment, Magnus walked into the hut, looking like he got into a shouting match with a Thunderdrum. "Daddy," Jr. said in delight and ran up to his father. "And how's my little warrior feeling," the chief said as he kneeled down to his son. "Good, Allie helped me," the young child said, his father giving a chuckle. "Is that right?" "It was nothing major Chief," Allie said as she walked back into the room. After getting a quick glance from her grandmother, Allie corrected herself, "I mean it wasn't that hard to fix up." Jr. started talking to his father, something about how good he acted during the process, it was a bit of a gibberish with how fast he was going. "Slow down son, daddy just left a meeting and his head is killing him," the Chief said as he rubbed the side of his head.

"So how did that meeting go anyway," Garrison asked. Freya silently counted down from three and right on cue Magnus said, "We're going on another search for the nest." "Called it," the elderly woman said loudly. "Now Magnus don't you think that these hunts are getting a little pointless by now." "Are you saying that I should just give up, Freya," Magnus said, his voice letting out a little anger, "That I should stop being chief and protect my people." "I said nothing of the sort. What I meant is that you, your father and everyone beforehand have been searching for the nest since the early days of Hagallheim. And what did all their attempts end up with? Broken ships and lost men." "Well what else should I do," Magnus all but screamed, scaring young Jr.

"These demons have been stealing from us for centuries. Not just food, but lives as well. If the nest is found and destroyed, the dragons will find another home away from us." "Or they could get really mad and burn you and your fleet to a crisp for destroying their home." Magnus was just about to slap Freya for insulting him, but Garrison luckily changed the topic. "Well, another hunt. I guess I'll go back my skivvies. I got some new ones from Trader Jorgen lost month I've been waiting to try out." Everyone present gave a disgusted shudder. "Could have gone the rest of my life without seeing that mental image."

"Thank you for offering to help Garrison, but you will not be coming. I've decided to start up dragon training, and you'll be teaching." No one else noticed but Allie had a worried look on her face, as if she was hoping that something wasn't true. "All of the youth in the village at the appropriate age will participate," Magnus said, Allie asking, "Could you please be a little more specific chief," afterwards. "What else could I mean, you and all others your age will go through dragon training," the chief answered. "So I'll be learning how to kill dragons, yay," Allie whispered to herself. "Well, would you look at that, Jr.'s put himself to sleep. I think I'll do you a favor and take him home for you chief," Allie nervously said as she put Jr. in her arms and walked out of the room.

"Everyone in her age group," Brenna said. "Everyone, except Hamish." "Terrific, while I'm busy letting inexperienced kids play around with dragons, little ol' Hamish can man the smithy. Carry heavy maces, mold the molten metal, and handle sharp blades. What could possibly go wrong?" Magnus sighed. "What am I going to do with that boy," and what came next was something no one expected. "You should put him in training with the others," Brenna said, loud enough so she could be heard.

"What, you can't be serious," Magnus questioned. "Hamish, he- he doesn't follow orders, he has the attention span of a fish. Do I have to bring up the goblin incident?" "Oh that was a good day, got a whole lot of goatweed. All 'cause Garrison over here told Hamish to search for the goblin that kept eating his cheese," Freya chuckled. "The kid was seven and he didn't know I was drunk, what else would you expect he would do. I still haven't found that little bugger. But I will find him." Look," Magnus changed the subject, "When I was a lad…" "Oh boy, better sit down," Garrison said. "My dad told me to go into the woods… "It's the boulder story, it's always the boulder story," Freya muttered. "And smash my head into a boulder.

I thought it was crazy…" "Which it was." "But I didn't object. Do you know what happened after I smashed my head into that boulder," Magnus said, each person present giving an answer. "You almost broke your skull." "You yelled at your father afterwards." "You had migraines for nearly three months straight, I still remember the weekly check-ups." "The boulder shattered. It was in that moment that I realized Vikings could do incredible things. They could level a forest, crush mountains, tame the seas. Hamish, he's not that boy." "Well that's 'cause he's human, not a demi-god," Freya snarked. "I mean seriously Magnus, did you ever-," Garrison put a hand over the old woman's mouth, preventing her from continuing.

"I know that my son is not the traditional Viking, to be honest I don't even want him to go into dragon training, for two reasons. First is I'm his mother and don't want him to get hurt, or maimed by dragons," Brenna said, directing that last part to Garrison. "I told the kids parent's I was sorry. Besides you could still live with one and a half legs." "And two being Harold. I will never forget him, and I know he wouldn't wish for his son to be a dragon killer." "Then why do you want him in training," Magnus asked. "Because I know that no matter how many times people tell him to stop and just give up, Hamish won't let anything stop him. I can't deny that Hamish will keep trying to kill dragons, so even though it pains me so, I think that it's best to prepare him for the future," Brenna finished, holding back a hint of tears.

A moment of silence passed, before it was quickly ended by Freya slamming her staff into Garrison's foot. "OW!" "I just thought of something. Did anyone think to make sure someone was watching Hamish to make sure he doesn't go on a wild Woolly Howl chase?"

* * *

"No, no, no," Hamish muttered, as he furiously scribbled on his map of Hagalheim. "Why do the gods like to mess with me? Apparently instead of me losing a sock like normal people, they have to make me lose a whole dragon," he said to no one. He moved a tree branch out of his way, only for said branch to slip from his grip and slap him across the face, knocking him down. "Really," Hamish rubbed the side of his head. As he got up, he realized that something was in his hand. At first glance it looked like a patch of white fur, but it wasn't until he looked down until he saw that it was a scale.

Hamish took it as a sign, his dragon was near. Looking around, Hamish saw a tree that looked like something had hit it, part of the tree had broken off. Looking towards were the fallen part was pointing, Hamish saw a rut in the ground. Getting closer, he saw that scales identical to the one he just saw were in it. He decided to follow the rut, thinking it would lead him to the Woolly Howl. After a few more minutes of wandering through the forest, he saw it.

The Woolly Howl, the beast that no one else in the village had ever seen, was laying wrapped up in bolas, right in front of him. In all honesty, the dragon was magnificent… and kind of underwhelming at the same time. The dragon's snow white scales were large and fur like, and even though they were curled up its wings looked massive. But, surprisingly the dragon wasn't large, it was just a couple feet bigger and longer than a Groncicle. Most depictions of a Woolly Howl were of it being massive, three times the size it actually was, with black as night scales that were more like swords than anything else. Instead he got a hairy dragon barely bigger than an ice Gronckle.

Carefully moving towards it, Hamish saw that the dragon was still breathing. Pulling out the knife he had brought with him, Hamish positioned himself so that he could drive the knife straight through the dragon's heart. "This is it for you beast," he said taking in deep breathes, preparing himself for what he was about to do. "I'm going to carve out that vile heart, and bring it to my chief. I'll prove them wrong. I'm not my father. Once I'm done with you, no one will ever doubt me again. They'll never think of me as the klutzy son of a spineless fool anymore. They'll see me as the Viking I truly am. I'm a Viking!"

It wasn't until he saw a small groan that realized the downed dragon was awake. He looked over, and saw the dragon looking at him with blue eyes that shimmered like a sapphire in the sunlight. It looked… scared? No, that's impossible, dragons are mindless beasts that don't have any emotions, right? Hamish keep telling himself this, but each time he looked at the dragon's eyes, those thoughts just vanished. The dragon, instead of looking like a mindless, killing monster, he saw a wounded creature that was afraid of what came next.

In a last ditch effort to convince himself to go through with this, Hamish screamed to himself that this creature was of the same kind that took his father out of his life forever. It worked, and Hamish brought the knife back over his head. The Woolly Howl closed its eyes, accepting defeat, and its head fell limp as Hamish lowered the knife…

And just dropped it to the ground.

He slumped to his knees, the utter truth coming to him. The instinct to kill dragons, the ability he had always said he had, he didn't have. Hamish Bjornson was not a dragon killer.

Hamish turned away, unable to even look at the dragon. Yet something inside him told him to look back. The Woolly Howl was wrapped up, unable to move. If he left it there, it would have starved, or be found by a pack of wolves. For a moment, Hamish saw his father and he thought how disappointed he would be, that he was just going to leave this dragon to die like this. Hoping he didn't regret what he was about to do next, Hamish picked the knife back up, and as quickly as he could, he began to saw through the ropes on the dragon.

Once the last rope was cut, the Woolly Howl, faster than you could blink, spun up and around, its tail slamming Hamish into a tree. Hamish quickly recovered, and saw the dragon staring at him with a fiery hatred. It was in that moment that Hamish knew he was going to die. He was going to die at the hands of the creature that moments ago he had spared. The Woolly Howl took a deep breathe, its icy blast becoming visible. Hamish closed his eyes preparing to meet the icy fate that he knew awaited him.

The Woolly Howl fired… at the large falling branch that would have crushed Hamish if it hit him. Opening his eyes again, Hamish saw that now the dragon was looking at him with an unreadable expression. It turned away from him. Spreading its wings, the Woolly Howl took off, and not very gracefully attempted to glide through the trees. Poor Hamish was in shock, first he spares a dragon, then that dragon saved him, it was too much to take in. Getting up, the lad managed to move about three feet to the left…

Before falling flat on his face.

* * *

Things were a little less hectic in the village. The repairs were coming along smoothly, although it would take a while to fix the torch Hamish broke last night. The next generation of dragon trainers were hanging around the docks, well the part that wasn't damaged. "Can you believe the chief ordered dragon training to start up so early," Aria said with a smile, which was a stark difference from the normal scowl she had on."

"When you consider the severity of raids have increased by twelve point sixty-seven percent, then it makes sense that the chief orders dragon training for our generation now instead of waiting until we are eighteen years of age instead," Leif said, Sven mocking him behind his back. "Blah, blah, blahbitty blah. I don't care how old I am, I'm going to be the one to win and get my first kill in front of the entire village cheering my name," the egotistical boy said. "You winning dragon training? That is highly improbable, with only a thirteen point four percent chance of success." "Could you please speak normal, you're angering rooster," Aric said loudly. "The rooster is back home and probably can't hear us, Aric," Aria reminded her brother while rolling her eyes. "Oh, right. But could you please talk normal, you know for Aria," Aric said, earning a slap on the shoulder from his sister.

"Well, to put it simple, Aria has the highest success of winning, followed by Sven, myself, Johann, Aric, Allie and Hamish, with Hamish being last at only point one percent." "Why am I fourth," Johann asked. "Because without someone telling you what to do, you're like an insect colony without a queen, unable to do anything," Leif answered, confusing Johann. "You can't think for yourself." "Ha, he told you," Sven laughed, only to be next on Leif's list. "Need I remind you Sven that even though you have the second highest chance of success, it is still very slim due to your egotistical and conceited nature?" "Yeah yeah, keep telling yourself that book worm," Sven dismissed Leif's words as though he was just making them up.

It was then Allie came over to them and Sven turned into a gigantic flirt. "Hey Allie, did you here, we were just talking about how well I was going to do in dragon training." "I thought you were going to only do second because of ego or something," Aric said, earning him a shush from Sven. "How about we go on a little picnic after I win." Trying not to look disgusted, Allie put on a fake smile and turned him down. "Thank you for the offer Sven, but I don't think that will happen." "Come on baby, why do you always have to play hard to get. It only makes sense that the future chief and the prettiest girl in the village go out. No offense Aria," Sven said, Aria not really caring about that last part.

"Wait, I thought Jr. was next up for chief position," Johann thought aloud. "Magnus the Second is the next in line for the role of Chief of Hagalheim, Sven just that he's going to get the role should something happen to the chief and Jr. will take the role once he comes of age," Leif explained. "Really, because shouldn't it go to someone who knows what they're doing. Like the chief's wife. Or Garrison. Or any adult really," "Okay thank you we get," Aria cut off her brother.

"Changing the subject," Allie said, uncomfortably removing Sven's arm from her shoulder, "What do you think of Hamish and the Woolly Howl?" The others remained silent, until they just burst into laughter. "What," Allie said, not understanding why they were laughing. "I thought we went over this, scarce chance of survival. I said this only a couple of hours ago," Leif said as he wiped a tear from his eye from laughing so hard. "I'm just asking." "Allie, even if someone did shoot down a Woolly Howl, it would have been a real Viking like me, not a scrawny runt like Hamish." "Don't tell me you actually believe him," Aria questioned.

Allie didn't know what to believe. Like Leif said, it was a one in a million chance of actually hitting the dragon, and an even lower chance of staying alive. "You know you really have to get your priorities straight Allie," Aria said harshly, earning everyone's attention. "What do you mean," Allie asked. "I mean you are really hard to figure out. First there's your whole I'm not going to fight dragons thing, and now you actually believe Hamish. I don't get it, don't you want to avenge your parents?"

That was out of line at least that was what Allie thought. She was used to people asking her why she was so dead set against fighting dragons, and every time she said that she was just taking her grandmother's advice and not letting things like revenge and hatred rule her life, but there was also something else that she never told people about as well. People gave her some harsh looks for it, but she could handle that. Some were a little more verbal in their dislike of her philosophy, but she couldn't blame those who lost loved ones to dragons, even if she disagreed with them. Aria however, was an interesting case. She hadn't lost anyone in her family due to dragons, and yet she was one of the ones who were the most verbal in her disagreement. Now she was giving her a hard time for supporting Hamish.

"I don't want to let what happened to my parents make me give up on everything else in life just for the sake of revenge. And as for Hamish, I'm just trying to have faith in someone that needs support. If you don't respect my idea, then that's fine," Allie said as she turned away from the others. "For the record though Aria, you need to lighten up," was all she said before walking away. They were a little shocked that Allie had just told Aria to lighten up, her acting tough was something they did not expect. "What was that for, what I do to deserve that," Aria said as she glared at Allie's retreating figure. "Well you did just snap at her out of nowhere sis." "Okay point taken." **{1}**

* * *

Hamish opened his eyes, and realized that he was not just in his bed, but he was in his house. Getting up out of bed he looked out his window and saw that it was night. Between ending up in bed and apparently staying out cold in the forest all day, Hamish didn't know what to say. "When your mother realized you weren't home she went into the woods to find you and brought you home." Hamish turned around and saw Magnus standing in the doorway.

"Alright chief, go on let's deal out the punishment," Hamish said as he sat in his chair. "Actually we'll have to take a rain check on that, I have something to tell you," Magnus said, which gave Hamish a moment of relief. "Oh, that's good because I have something I need to say too." "I don't want to fight dragons/ **I've decided to let you fight dragons** ," both said at the same time, before realizing that the other was trying to say something. "Um, you go first." "No, you go first chief." "Alright. I talked with your mother, and she convinced me to give you your wish. You start dragon training with your friends first thing tomorrow." What? Now the chief lets him go all dragon slayer. "Okay I should have gone first. You see I was thinking that there are a lot of fighting Vikings, but we really are lacking in baking Viking and dentistry Vikings-" "I'm not following."

Talking breathe, Hamish said what he realized he couldn't do. "I can't fight dragons." Magnus just blinked before giving a hearty laugh. "Good one, you almost had me there." Hamish tried to say otherwise, but everything was deaf on the Chief's ears. When he finally heard his step-son, Magnus just said, "Enough already it was funny the first time. Look, I admit I was not the best parent to you these last couple years. But now, things are going to change. You will finally be the Viking you say you are, and I will start being a father figure to you," Magnus said, Hamish secretly thinking about how bad of a job he was doing so far. "Now, you train hard, I'm leading another nest search. Tell your mother I'll return, probably," was the last thing the large Viking said before leaving his home.

"And I'll be here, hopefully."

* * *

 **A/U: Sorry I'm a little late, things were a bit harder than expected. So, updates are still every Friday, but will be Saturday if I run late.**

 **The events in motion have started, with Hamish sparing the Toothless-equivalent Woolly Howl and dragon training starting up next time, things are starting to happen.**

 **1} so, some of you are probably wondering why I had a scene involving conversation with the teens. Well, that's because of characterization. I love the first film like it was the only meaningful thing on earth (is that sad?), but I do have some nit-picky problems with it. One of the biggest was that, Fishlegs, the twins and Snotlout were not really the prominent in terms of character. They were better in the series, but in the first film their personalities were very hard to see outside some dialogue. SO there will be other scenes with the teens in this story so that they can let their personalities shine.**

 **There is also the issue of the Astrid characters in this story. When I said Allie had the love interest role, I realized that some people would just think she would only be this nice girl who was going to end up with Hamish when this is all over, so I want to give her moments where she is not just that, and I hope here with her being grossed out by Sven's flirting and little tension with Aria helped. Aria's issue is that because she has Astrid's personality she's going to act like a high school mean girl who doesn't want the status quo to change. I've seen some other stories were the writers can be really mean to Astrid because of actions in the first movie, not saying who I don't want to sound like I'm hating on people, and often or not have that be her whole characterization.**

 **I'm not saying it's wrong, this is fanfiction, writers can do what they want with their character, but I don't like it when people taking someone's character, and make it so their entire personality is based on one trait. Snotlout being a total jerk who tries to take revenge on Hiccup for example, (again, not saying names, I'm just saying I don't like it when characters are flanderized.) So I think the problem with Aria is making it so she doesn't end up like she's a contestant on Survivor who just wants to win at any cost but making her a strong character who you guys can sympathize with.**

 **So enough of that, I'll see you on Friday, or Saturday if things go slow.**

 **R &R**

 **PurifierofChaos131000**

 **Posted: September 17th, 2016**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ugh, why can't I update on time!? Seriously, it's like every time I have a good idea, the universe works to prevent me from working on it. If you guys find it annoying, just know, so do I! I could get into a rant right know, but I've delayed this long enough, just read and I'll keep my anger to myself.**

 _Chapter 3: Lessons_

"Welcome to Dragon Training!"

The youth of Hagalheim stepped into the arena where they would take the first steps towards their future. The arena was no different to other arenas across the archipelago, at least in terms of size and style. The only major difference was that there were more cages in the arena for dragons than most other one. Well that and the thing was built in the caves under the village with the sources of light being torches hung on the walls of the cave and light that came through a large hole in the cavern ceiling, gated so that dragons don't escape.

"I'm hoping for a lot of burns, maybe some mauling on my chest, it'd be awesome," Sven said with high hopes. "I'm going to avoid major hits to my head, I don't want to end up as unintelligent as the rest of you," said Leif with a massive helmet on his head, muffling his voice. "Man up, fighting's only cool if you get a scar," Aria said, completely unafraid of the challenges before her.

"Yeah for pain," came another voice. The youths turned around to see Hamish enter the ring with little enthusiasm. "Looks like the chief caved and he's going to send Hamish to be dragon chow. Told you that was what going to happen Johann, pay up," Aric said, holding out his hand, Johann placing a few coins in it. "You two were beating on the chief letting Hamish into dragon training?" "No Allie, we were not betting to see if the chief was going to let Hamish in with the cool Vikings, we were betting to see how he was going to send him to his death," Aric said with a bit of sadistic glee.

"Alright, enough of this conversation," Garrison said as he closed the gate to the arena. "Now, first things first. As you all know, Dragon Training will last six weeks, and the recruit who does best will get the honor of slaying his or her first dragon in front of the entire village," Garrison said, Sven taking the opportunity to insult our hero. "If Hamish shot a Woolly Howl does that mean he's disqualified or what?" Johann and Aric laughed, Aria and Leif just rolled their eyes while Allie just looked at them solemnly.

"Don't worry, the dragons will just think you're walking bones, they'll see you as a sick being and leave you alone," Garrison said to Hamish, patting the boy's shoulder. Despite the older Viking's attempt at cheering him up, which even under normal circumstances wouldn't have worked, Hamish felt a little worse. Just as he finally gets his wish of killing dragons, he decides he can't. Isn't fate artistic?

"Know that behind the doors are just a handful of the numerous species you may have to fight," Garrison gestured to the cages containing the dragons. He then began to introduce the dragons with Leif giving a brief word or two. "The daredevil Windstriker…" "Specialize in dive bombing techniques, can breathe fire and/or heated air." "The sinister Sweet Death…" "Tree-like tongue, spits highly corrosive acid." "The hot-tempered Hackatoo…" "Can saw through wood with ease, although it takes a while to chop through stone and metal." "The superior Sliquifier…" "Not very graceful fliers, but their speed in water makes up for it." "The ferocious Moldruffle…" "Extremely skilled hunter, communicates with others of its kind by banging its horns." "The Wolfang…" "Small but aggressive, they're pack hunters that…" **{1}**

"Are you done yet I'm tryin' to watch," shouted Allie's grandmother who was watching from outside the arena. As village elder she also served as judge for this sort of thing. "Thank you for interrupting my lesson Freya," Garrison shouted to the elder, who didn't reply. Ignoring the scene that just occurred, the blacksmith continued as if nothing had happened. "And, the Groncicle." Leif couldn't help but say, "Liquid nitrogen blasts that are the coldest known to Vikings." Garrison walked over to the Groncicle cage, and it became increasingly clear to the students what he was about to do.

"Shouldn't you teach us first?" "There's one thing you should know about my family, we don't believe in teaching first," Garrison said as he opened the cage. A blue Groncicle bolted right out and began flying around the arena, the recruits scattering about. "Alright, first lesson: survival and necessary equipment. What is the first thing you need in battle against a dragon?" In their haste, the recruits just shouted the first thing that came to mind. "A medic?" "A distraction?" "A shield."

"Correct shield. Now get one!" The recruits each grabbed a shield a pile as Garrison continued this poorly thought out lesson. "A shield is a warrior's greatest ally, if you needed to pick between shields or other weapons, go with shields." Each recruit had now had a shield, except Aric who was taking his time looking at each one. "Too last season. Too worn down. What is this fuchsia? Naw, this is a summer, I'm more of a winter." The Groncicle noticed him, and flew towards him. In a split second, Aria tackled her brother to the ground, getting him out of the way from the dragon's ice bomb, which hit the wall and created a patch of ice on impact.

"If you get hit, you're died." "Thank you for the advice you deranged lunatic," Sven shouted, his doubt in Garrison's teaching methods increasing significantly. "So you have your shields, but you don't need them for just defense." "How," Johann shouted. "Noise. Start banging them, it'll throw off the dragon's aim." They teens started to bang the shields against the weapons the brought in, or Allie's case she hit it with her fist. The Groncicle started shaking its head in confusion, the noise was making it hard to concentrate. It fired at the recruits, but it missed and went straight to the sides of the arena, almost hitting Freya.

"Each dragon can only hold a certain amount of fuel for its fire, giving it what we call a shot limit." "Why do they have that," Aric called, still picking out a shield. "Because dragons aren't magic. Now then, how many do Groncicles have?" "Thirteen?" "Eighty-two?" "One thousand?" "Oh for the love of Thor, it's ten," Leif shouted at his uninformed classmates, "And it currently has eight remaining." While he spoke, the Groncicle fired two more blast at Aric and Allie, both blocking them with their shields. "Correction: six remaining." "Leif's right, and the dragon now has enough for all of you." Johann raised up his hand to ask a question, but the Groncicle fired right at him, knocking the shield out of his hand. "Johann, out."

At some point during the conversation, Hamish hid behind a shield rack. Garrison caught him as he peeked out behind it, "What are you doing boyo, get out there!" Hamish didn't even get to take a full step before an ice bomb from the Groncicle hit the wall a few inches behind him. As for the rest of the recruits, Sven was the next to be eliminate. He was so focused on flirting with Allie, something about moving into his parent's attic, that he almost lost a limb. Leif was eliminated shortly afterwards, he was strategizing, but he forgot one little detail; this was an actual fight were not focusing could equal death.

The Groncicle blasted towards Aria, who skillfully dodged it and ended up standing right next to Hamish. "So it's down to us now." "Nope, just you," Aria said as she ran away. Before Hamish could think he saw an ice bomb hurling right at him. He put his shield in the path of it, but thanks to his weak grip the force from the blast knocked it right out of his hands. Seeing the defenseless Hamish, who was now chasing a rolling shield, the Groncicle flew right at him.

Hamish was corned between a dragon and a hard place. The Groncicle reared its ugly head back as the cold blast built up in the back of its throat. The young Hamish prepared himself for the worst, it seems fate did plan on giving him an icy demise. But before you could say die, another shield was thrown at the Groncicle, knocking its head away from Hamish and redirecting the blast. To the surprise of everyone, it was not Garrison or any other adult, it was _Allie_. The seemingly meek little girl who was against fighting dragons had just thrown something at a dragon.

The Groncicle placed itself on the ground, and slowly walked over to Allie, the girl not moving an inch. Her expression wasn't fear or anger, but curiosity. From where he was currently standing, Hamish could have sworn she said something to the dragon. Everyone looked on in silence, not even Allie's grandmother made a sound. The silence was ended by Garrison taking his hook hand and grabbing the dragon by its jaw. "And that's today's lesson. Now get back in bed you glorified lizard!"

With a powerful swing, Garrison threw the dragon back into its cage. After he closed the cage, he looked at all his students and said, "Don't worry, this was just day one. You'll get better."

"Freya, tell 'em how they did," the smith said to the old woman. "Well, seeing as how she was the only one who did not get blasted, this round goes to Aria," she said, Aria giving a victorious grin. "And because she had acted against the dragon despite being eliminated, I'm sorry Allie but you're last today." Allie didn't respond to her grandmother's statement, she just forlornly looked at the ground. "So before we end for today, there is one more thing you need to know: A dragon will _always_ go in for the kill," Garrison said, looking directly at Hamish and Allie as he said that. "Alright, class dismissed."

The Hagallheim Vikings walked out of the arena, Hamish being the last one. Before he stepped out, he turned his around to see that Allie was still in the arena, except she was sitting down with her face in her knees. Taking a deep breath and hoping the gods were on his side this time, Hamish walked over to her. "Hey," he said nervously. Allie looked at him and gave a surprised look. Hamish could tell she wasn't paying attention beforehand. "Hey," she said back.

Sitting down next to her, Hamish asked if she was alright. "I'm fine. I just…, you wouldn't understand." "Try me." "Well, I just feel like the world is against me." That surprised Hamish, to say the least. "You think the world is against _you_? Yesterday a tree branch hit me in the face and today I almost got hit by a dragon, three times. If that doesn't seem like the world is against me, I don't know what is." Allie's expression lightened up a bit, before going right back down again. "Well how about being the only one in the village who thinks differently about dragons? I know they're going to disagree with me, but sometimes I think that they're trying to change me," Allie said, eyes locked on the ground. "That they want me to just be like them and fight and kill dragons. The fact that I'm the only one in the village who thinks like this doesn't help."

As they spoke, Hamish felt himself being more confident. Here he was talking to his crush, and she was trusting him with her feelings. Taking a leap of fate, Hamish spoke his secret. "You're not the only one. I can't fight dragons either." Now it was Allie's turned to act surprised. "What? You're just saying that to make me feel better." "I'm serious, I can't. I thought I was like everyone else, but it turns out I'm not." "I never thought you were like anyone else, it's something I like about you," Allie said, before putting a hand over her mouth.

"What? I'm sorry what did you say?" "I said that I like how you're not like everyone else. Even when you try to you do it by being yourself. You don't try to hide who you are. I think it's a really great thing about you." Hamish immediately started blushing, Allie said she liked something about him. "Are you okay, you look a little red," Allie said, Hamish turning back into a love struck awkward teenager. "Well I just was, I think tha-tha-tha, I, 'um," After continuing to stutter for another ten seconds, Allie started to laugh. "Well I'm glad me making a fool out of myself brings you joy." "No, I didn't mean it like that, I just-" "I was just messing with you." After a brief silence, Allie stood up, "Thank you Hamish, I needed some cheering up." "You're welcome," Hamish said as he got up. "And I really did mean what I said. I don't want to kill dragons." "Well, I'm glad. I'll see you later Hamish," Allie said as she ran out, waving to him.

Hamish was in his glory days, but that quickly ended when he heard Allie's grandmother behind him say, "You do realize I was still here right?"

* * *

"So why didn't you," Hamish wondered aloud. He was currently in the woods, back at the spot where he had found the Woolly Howl. Garrison's words were still fresh in his mind. _"A dragon will always go in for the kill."_ Emphasize was on 'always', that dragons would not let the chance to kill escape them, and yet, the Woolly Howl had spared him. The villagers had a saying, 'Despite outward appearances, all dragons are the same, devils.' Admittedly that sounded quite racist but they're Vikings, what can you do.

If the Woolly Howl didn't kill him, and the villagers incredibly biased and inaccurate belief was correct, than that would mean no dragon would go in for the kill. But if that was true, then why were they constantly raiding? Ugh, it was all so confusing.

Hamish's thoughts were interrupted by a sound in the distance. Curiosity got the better of him, and he moved ever closer to where the sound was coming from. It wasn't long until he had found himself in front a cave entrance on the side of Thor's Peak. He walked into the cave, and walked through a tunnel, one that no one else on Hagalheim had apparently seen because no one had ever mentioned it.

Hamish walked until he eventually reached a dead end. But at that dead end was a large crack in the wall, sunlight breaking into the mountain. It was large enough to allow him to get in, so he carefully slipped through the crack and saw that he had emerged from the tunnel. The place looked like a sink hole that used to be part of the mountain. Greenery was pretty sparse, only a few plants here and there with some moss on the walls. The walls themselves were large, keeping the place hidden from view. A moat was at the center of it all, with a tree growing on an island near the center.

Hamish could only describe the place as a secret grotto, an oasis in the sands of the archipelago. He was about to take another step forward when he saw it. The Woolly Howl was here, sleeping in the tree. Carefully staying quiet, Hamish moved back behind the crack in the wall. Something popped up in his mind, why was the Woolly Howl still here? Hamish had set it free, why hadn't it flown away of the island.

They boy took out the sketchbook he had on him, remembering what the villagers said about how no one had ever seen one before. As quickly as he could, he drew a rough sketch of the sleeping dragon, looking back at the dragon continuously. He was almost finished drawing it when he noticed something he hadn't seen before. On the tail of the Woolly Howl was what looked to be tail fins, yet one was ripped in half.

The realization hit Hamish faster than a speeding Groncicle. During one of the raids a few years back, he had heard Garrison say something among the lines of how without wings and tails, dragons were just lizards that could breathe fire. Back then, Hamish had no idea what the old man meant. But now he knew, that a dragon with a wound tail or a broken wing couldn't fly.

Hamish had spared the dragon, only to condemn him to a life without ever flying again.

* * *

"I admit it, today was not the best. In fact out of every class I've ever thought in my life this was by far the worst I've seen in a long time, by far," Garrison said to most of the trainees. It was currently sun set, and most off the village was in the town hall eating dinner. "I spent a whole hour thinking of what to tell your parents if one of you lot died the first day actually…" "Is this gonna go anywhere," Aric whispered to Leif. "Hard to say, Garrison's skillset does not include skipping formalities and getting to the point."

"…and all I could come up with was 'He/She/They died. So sorry.' But enough of that. Now, in order to prevent another accident, a fatal one not limb losing one, you can survive that, you need to ask yourselves, 'Where did I go wrong today?' "I got stuck with a lunatic teacher for one thing," Sven muttered under his breathe. Unfortunately for him, said teacher heard him and gave him a smack on the back of the boy's head. "No, you decided to flirt with a girl who shows no interest in ya'." Johann muttered something which no one heard. He actually said, "{Allie} could do way better," and he wasn't wrong. "You have to keep your focus on what's happening around you, not what's going on in 'Sven-land,' which I really don't want to visit." Leif couldn't resist flashing a smug smile, which was noticed by Garrison.

"Oh don't be so smug, you had the exact same problem. In a fight you need to adapt on the spot, work with what you've got. Freezing up and thinking things through will just leave you wide open. Alright, where did Aric go wrong?" "I forgot to bring Rooster that little bird always knew what color went with the occasion," the somewhat insane kid said, his sister rolling her eyes. "Aric chose to waste time and pick out a shield instead of just grabbing one." "Well excuse me sis if I want to look my best before I get blood everywhere. Thor," Aric looked up as if he was talking to said god, "Prove me wrong. Start a storm and prove me wrong." As if Thor actually heard him, the sound of thunder rang out and Gunnar walked in completely soaked. "I must use this power for good," Aric said in a low voice.

On the other side of the Hall, Brenna was cutting up a chicken leg for Junior, who was reading a well-known Viking legend called "The Dragon Valkyrie." "Mommy when is Hamish going to be here," the child asked. "He said he would be gone most of the day, I'm sure he'll be here soon," Brenna answered. Another crack of thunder burst in the air, the wind whipping up. "Although I hope he gets back before that storm gets any worse." "Mommy what was Hamish's daddy like?" Brenna just about froze up when she heard that. Where did Junior even get the idea to ask such a thing?

"Sweetie, it's not very nice to ask a thing like that. You don't know whether or not someone wants to talk about it." "I'm sorry," Junior said quite remorsefully. "I just heard Sven's dad say some bad words about him and…" Brenna put her hand on Junior's lips, silencing the boy. "First, never repeat those words to anyone. But, I get that you would be curious, though I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you about him for at least another five or six years. Harold, he was…"

As she told Junior about her first husband, her first child wondered into the hall, completely soaked by rain. "I mistimed the summersault dive. It was sloppy," Aria said, her brother agreeing with her. "Yeah, and that shade of red is so two months ago." Hamish grabbed a plate, and Sven moved so that he was taking up two seats. Not in the mood to even try, Hamish just walked away, but not before hearing his fellow trainees make some remarks at his expense. "Where did Hamish go wrong?"

"He showed up?" "He didn't lose a limb?" "He's never where he belongs," Aria said straight to the point. Hamish wasn't sure if she said that knowing he would hear it, but the message was heard loud and clear. He was used to people telling him this, really it was every day that at least someone said something similar to what Aria said. In fact, he actually thought if someone went one day without belittling him it would be a sign of Ragnarok. Yet, know it hurt, because she was right. Hamish had nearly cost the lives of a lot of people during raids, and now he had basically cursed a dragon to the worst kind of life imaginable, all because he didn't know where he belonged.

He took his usual seat near his mother and brother, the latter running up to him and giving him a hug. The Viking teen was too depressed to return, so he simply put the child back in his seat. "What's wrong sweetie," Brenna asked, noticing the look in Hamish's eyes. "I'm fine mom. I'm just really wishing I could undo something," the teen said, pushing the chicken on his plate with a fork. Sensing that this was something Hamish did not want to talk about, Brenna stopped there and changed the topic of discussion.

"So, how was the first day of training?" In truth she already knew, the entire village did, mostly because Aric loves to spread rumors. "Oh it was great. You know how much fun having a dragon spit ice at you, being humiliated in front of the junior population of the tribe and being forced into training in the force place is," Hamish said darkly, startling his family, who were not used to seeing such a darkness in him. The thunder outside the hall clapped, it sounded like Thor was particularly ticked off tonight. But on the plus side a storm that dangerous meant that there wouldn't be a raid, most likely. Fittingly the storm matched the inside of Hamish's mind. Between the Woolly Howl and all he's put up with over the years, his heart was torn over even bothering to show up to training at all and just giving up while he's a head.

"Is this seat taken," came Allie's voice, snapping Hamish out of his dark thoughts. "Of course not, please sit down dear," Brenna said, and Allie sat down next to Hamish. The boy's cheeks started to blush a light red, this was twice today Allie was near him. "I hope I'm not interrupting something, I was just a little tired of everyone else. So, how's the little soldier doing?" "'M good. Although I do feel a little tired once and a while," Magnus said, the overdramatic tiredness revealing he was faking. "Well, do you have any suggestions for that Allie," Brenna said, playing along with her youngest' act.

"Yes, a bath and lots of rest. It works best if done once the signs start showing up," Allie said, a little bit of a mischievous glint in her eye. "Oh, and nothing sweet for the next week." "You know what mommy, I'm starting to feel good. No need to not have sweets," Jr. said with urgency. "Well, just in case let's get started on that bath." "But mom-" "No 'buts' young man. Come one," Brenna said as she picked up the boy, said child begging for her to stop.

"Well look at you. If I didn't know better I'd say Aric gave you some secret pranking lessons," Hamish joked, earning a laugh from both parties. "I'm a nice girl but if you make an enemy, you'll pay dearly," Allie said, with what sounded like an impersonation of Chief Magnus. "Oh no, it's Allie! Look out or she'll torture you with her bandages!" Allie laughed more, Hamish looking at her longingly. Her laugh was like the twittering of a song bird, beautiful and pleasant to the ear.

"Before I forget, Garrison wanted you to read over this," she said as she put a book on the table. It was an old book, the pages yellowed with age multiple spots from water damage were visible. On the cover was the symbol of the tribe, a dragon eye with a snowflake inside the iris. The book was the Dragon Journal, the village's manual on all things dragon-related. "He wanted all of us to study it together, but Leif already memorized it, Sven thought he was too cool for it and Aria flat out refused." Upon mentioning the other girl's name Allie's eyes started to sorrow a little. The sadness vanished as quickly as it came, and Allie acted as if nothing was wrong.

"Well, I just remembered my grandma needs me to restock the shelves back at the hut. So I'll see you at class tomorrow," Allie said as she got up. "Yeah, see you tomorrow," Hamish said, a small hint or sadness escaping his voice. He watched as the girl walked towards the door of the building. "Wait," he said, Allie stopping in her tracks. Hamish ran up to her and gave her his vest. "So you don't have to get wet." Smiling gratefully, Allie tuck the vest and put it on. She left the town hall, Hamish smiling like a loves truck teenager. Maybe this was a sign, things were going to go his way.

* * *

Inside the sinkhole just outside Thor's Peak, the Woolly Howl was trying to squeeze its way back into the cave entrance. The rain continued to fall, the mud messing with his snow white color. Realizing he couldn't get back in, the Woolly Howl jumped under the tree. It didn't do much, but it was just enough to keep him dry.

For the last couple hours, he couldn't stop thinking of the human boy that visited to this hidden cave. Despite his unconscious appearance, the dragon was awake and fully aware that the boy was there. He could tell by the scent that this was the same one that had released him from his trap in the woods. The dragon's mind began to wonder, how did the boy know he was shot down in the first place? The most logical thing he could think of was that the human was the one who shot him down, aiming to kill him and carve out his heart.

And yet, the boy did the opposite really. Not only did the human spare his life, but he released him from his binding. Since hatching, the dragon was told that humans were selfish monsters who wouldn't think twice about killing their kind. But, not only did the human think twice, but when it looked like he could kill the dragon again, he just left.

Why, he wondered? Why did the human not go through with killing him? Thinking back to their first encounter, the boy felt, scared? His eyes, they were the same as his back then; scared, alone, afraid of what was going to happen. It was as if Aquarius **{2}** herself had given him a sign, the boy was just like him, someone who was one-of-a-kind, and trapped in a cage without knowing it.

Part of him wanted to forget all this, just try to find a way off this wretched island without flying. But he decided on one thing: he had to find that boy again.

* * *

"The 'Hail Devil' and incarnation of Niflheim itself. You're only hope, pray the gods are with you," Hamish quoted from the Dragon Journal. For the supposed guide book of dragons the book was surprisingly vague. Apart from a few weaknesses and the 'KILL IMMEDIATELY' advice on all the pages, the book had very few things Hamish didn't know about inside its pages.

On top of all thought, there was no information on the Woolly Howl. Apparently lack of information was part of the not seeing one and surviving the encounter deal. Hamish looked back and forth between the Dragon Journal and the sketch of the Woolly Howl he had drawn. There was something about the dragon that just called out to him, as if the Gods themselves were trying to tell him something. One thing was for sure though:

Hamish had to find that Woolly Howl again.

* * *

 **Well I'm glad I finally finished that up. I just want to rip of an ear I was so angry…**

 **But to be fair, it wasn't just the rest of the world that should be blamed. I had to figure out how where I was going with the characters, what the equivalent to the Cove was going to be like, writing out the dragon training sequence, yeah it wasn't as easy as it seemed.**

 **1} Book dragon. There was no tiny dragon that we hadn't seen at this point in the franchise, and I like I said, I want to give some attention to the lesser known dragons in the franchise (Terror, been around since the beginning. Smokebreath, not really sure how I'd incorporate into the story, Night Terror, that's for a later time and Fireworms were too tiny).**

 **So I want back to the roots of the franchise as selected a dragon from the books to put in to the story. Now it was only mentioned in a side book, and also called the Wolf-Fang instead of Wolfang, but what little I got off the HTTYD wiki got me intrigued so I'll just use some artistic license.**

 **2} So you may be wondering why the Woolly Howl referred to one of the western zodiacs as if it was an anthropomorphic being? Well it's a dragon thing in the story, basically to dragons the western zodiac is their god-like beings, but instead of a bull, a fish-goat, a fish and so on, they're more dragon like. It'll make sense when it gets explained.**

 **So, again, sorry for never being able to update on time. I'll try to keep on the every Friday possibly Saturday schedule… starting in two weeks because I have mid-terms next week and a large portion of my time has to be studying. But I'll work on chapters when I have free time.**

 **Oh, one more thing, while I was brainstorming where I was going with the characters, I had some ideas that get a little dark so I may have to change the rating to T later on if I decide to go with them.**

 **R &R**

 **PurifierofChaos13100**

 **Oh and Happy Halloween**

 **Posted: 10/29/16**


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